HOW THE BAND FORMED
The Luminescent Orchestrii formed in 2002 as a quintet including Rima Fand, Sxip Shirey, Sarah Alden, Kaia Wong, and Aaron Goldsmith. It began when Sxip and Rima decided, a little over a year ago, to form an all-girl orchestra. And that idea was inspired by the cover of an old 78 record, entitled "The Hour of Charm With the All-Girl Orchestra and Choir." Sxip and Rima looked at that gorgeous album cover and said, laughingly, we really should create our own hour of charm with an all-girl orchestra and choir. And then instantly the laughter turned to dead seriousness. Rima realized that she had always wanted to form an ensemble of gutsy girl string players who could rock out, improvise, compose. And Sxip realized that he had always wanted to create performances where audiences get fed full of charm. The record cover was baby blue in color, with elegant ladies in gowns swirling across it. Floating in the corner was a large man's head gazing intensely on the scene, charmed and charming. Sxip said, "I want to be that guy".
And so they began to gather the girls. Many exciting string players showed up. They tended to be women who were used to being the only female string player in all-male rock bands. Rima started calling the group the "solitary-rock-band-string-chick-liberation-orchestra". None of the women who showed up, however, came with more regularity, or passion, than Sarah and Kaia. A bond started to form as Sxip, Rima, Sarah and Kaia began exploring original compositions and improvising together. But after a short while, they started craving a low end sound to balance out all the high end. Where to turn? The only girl bassists they knew were phenomenally busy. But right there was the eager Aaron, a wonderful bassist to be sure, who fit right in with the spirit of the ensemble, though was decidedly not a girl. Aaron resolved the dilemma when he declared that, although he was not a girl, he would be willing to perform as one, and he was welcomed as a member.
The band actually performed its first show as the All-Girl Orchestra at Superfine in Brooklyn, with Aaron in drag. After that show however, we had to admit that we were not an all-girl orchestra, and needed to find a new title. We performed under several different names until we finally settled on the Luminescent Orchestrii. Incidentally, Rima now has an all-girl choir, which occasionally performs with the band, and Sxip does have an Hour of Charm, a wonderfully diverse and delicious performance series. And so the dream is alive and well.
